After a century of political and economic reforms, Myanmar appeared to be suddenly letting go of decades of martial law. European funding was expanding, and living conditions were slowly improving.
But, the defense seized control of the country in a coup that removed Aung San Suu Kyi’s democratically elected government in February of that year. The result was a land that sagged for civil war and a collapsed economy.
A massive 7.7-magnitude disaster struck the country’s center on Friday, adding to the country’s long-suffering people’s everyday suffering. Its epicenter was just outside Mandalay, the second-largest town in the county.
More than 1, 000 kilometers from the core, the capital of Thailand, Bangkok, also experienced significant damage. A building that was under construction was captured in video footage crashing into top x pools, causing waterfalls to fall from high-rise condominiums.
Given that the junta has mostly banned social advertising and communication apps like Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, Signal, and X, information on the extent of the damage in Myanmar was less clear.
At the time of reading, the death toll has now passed 1, 000. However, US Geological Survey modeling suggests that the country’s gross domestic product ( GDP ) could be attained by more than 10,000 deaths and economic losses.
Min Aung Hlaing, the leader of Myanmar’s separatist military juntas, immediately issued a request for foreign assistance, which was unusual for them.
In the ongoing civil war, the dictatorship controls only 21 % of the nation, with the remainder being contested or controlled by ethnically divided organizations and weight soldiers. This suggests that global support may not be available to some of the country’s hardest-hit regions.
The Trump administration’s efforts to undermine the US Agency for International Development ( USAID )’s activities in the nation have grown even more difficult. This will make it much harder to locate the areas where help is most in need and to spread it on the ground.
Myanmar is prone to natural disasters.
Myanmar has experienced frequent natural disasters in addition to its harsh and totalitarian defense rule since it gained independence in 1948.
According to estimates, at least 430 people died in the aftermath of Typhoon Yagi‘s relics in the floods in September. About 460 members of the Rohingya ethnic majority, who are largely confined to state camps in Rakhine condition in horrible conditions, were reported to have been killed by Cyclone Mocha in 2023.
But, Cyclone Nargis in 2008, which left at least 140, 000 people dead, was the worst natural crisis in living memory. The military junta resisted global guidance on that event, which is likely to have resulted in numerous pointless deaths.
It was nearly impossible to find out what was really happening on the ground in Myanmar at the time because there was no impartial advertising it.
Despite the regime’s current censorship measures and web blocks, the proliferation of mobile devices over the past ten years has allowed for much greater dissemination of information.
Only about 1 % of Myanmar’s population had cellular phones when Cyclone Nargis occurred, which was the year the phone was introduced. Myanmar had a laptop penetration rate of 114 % by the time of the revolution in 2021. ( This indicates that people in the country own more smartphones than people. )
obstructed international aid
Although Min Aung Hlaing has pressed for international assistance more than his father in 2008, US President Donald Trump’s activities have resulted in significantly less effective assistance than it was two months ago.
The Trump administration announced to Congress on Friday that it would cut nearly all of the agency’s remaining employment and opened it, thereby closing all USAID operations worldwide.
The decision was described as” a total abandonment of decades of US administration in the world,” according to Jeremy Konyndyk, leader of Refugees International and former USAID official. He claimed that the layoffs would have eliminated” the last members of the team that would have facilitated a USAID disaster answer” to the earthquake.
USAID spent US$ 240 million in Myanmar in 2024, which represents roughly one-third of all international charitable aid to the nation.
However, there have been fewer USAID courses in Myanmar from 18 to only three since Trump’s opening in January. Along Myanmar’s border with Thailand, some Organizations and at least seven US-funded facilities have been shut down.
Myanmar’s expelled independent media stores, which highlight the government’s crimes, have also seen their financing reduced as a result of the Trump administration’s USAID reduces.
What follows?
At the Armed Forces Day Parade’s 80th commemoration the day before the earthquake, Min Aung Hlaing addressed the soldiers. He declared that December would see the start of regional elections, a decision that human rights organizations have now labeled a” sham.”
There is no plausible way for elections to be held in a country where there is no military rule or where the civil war is still raging.
In every conceivable free or fair election that has taken place in Myanmar over the past 40 years, military-backed functions have been largely rejected by the public. This includes the most recent elections that the National League of Democracy ( NLD ), led by Aung San Suu Kyi, won in 2020.
Min Aung Hlaing’s request for international aid may be welcomed and responded to by the world, but this doesn’t mean the history is forgotten. The government’s pointless and dangerous 2021 coup has resulted in thousands of innocent lives lost.
The nation would be far more equipped to deal with the effects of this disaster if the NLD had remained in power. The government’s brutal rule and Trump’s cruel help cuts, once more, will undoubtedly lead to more needless suffering and deaths.
Adam Simpson is University of South Australia’s senior lecturer in international reports.
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